by Winston Maxwell and Xavier Vamparys [1]

The District Court of the Hague, Netherlands found that the government’s use of artificial intelligence (AI) to identify welfare fraud violated European human rights because the system lacked sufficient transparency and explainability.[2] As we discuss below, the court applied the EU principle of proportionality to the anti-fraud system and found the system lacking in adequate human rights safeguards. Anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML-CFT) measures must also satisfy the EU principle of proportionality. The Hague court’s reasoning in the welfare fraud case suggests that the use of opaque algorithms in AML-CFT systems could compromise their legality under human rights principles as well as under Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).[3]  Continue reading →